Display device



Jan. 19, 1965 R. E. TABER 3,166,195

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 25, 1963 4 heet 1 INVENTOR Russm ETABER,

ATTORNEYS.

a 1965 R. E. TABER 3,166,195

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 25, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Russeu.ETABER,

ATTORNEYS.

R. E. TABER DISPLAY DEVICE Jan. 19, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 25,1963 INVENTOR RussELLETAaER,

ATTORNEYS,

Jan. 19, 1965 R. E. TABER 3,166,195

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 25, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. RussEu.ETABER,

ATTORNEYS.

United fi fidddldd Patented Jan. 19, 1965 est . 3,166,195 DISPLAY DEVECERussell E. Taber, 51d Dogwood V alley ll rive NE, Atlanta, Ga. Filedlane 25, 1%3, Ser. No. 2%,335 13 Claims. (Cl. Ell-4'9) This inventionrelates to a device for displaying packaged merchandise, and moreparticularly to such a device which is capable of feeding mechandisecarried thereby to the front of the shelf or other support.

Retail merchandising, particularly in the food field, has become arather exacting science in recent years. It is, of course, desirablethat the articles of merchandise be attractively displayed; they must beeasily visible in relation to adjacent items; and they must be withineasy reach of customers or clerks.

In a conventional arrangement, wherein a number of packaged articles aresimply stacked in rows on a shelf or counter, the effectiveness of thedisplay decreases as the items in front are removed, because theremaining items are located further back on the shelves.

Past efforts at correcting these disadvantages have developed variousdevices usingv gravity to feed the remaining articles to the front ofthe shelf or counter as each front article is removed, while still otherefforts have developed spring feeding devices. However, none of theseeiforts has been noted for its versatility or adaptability inaccommodating more than a single line of products. Furthermore, thespring feeding devices have generally failed to give consistentlyefficient performance over long periods of time.

till another disadvantage of the prior spring loaded devices was thatremoval of the front item tended to disengage and topple one or more ofthe items directly behind it.

With the above disadvantages and objections in mind, it is a primaryobject of the instant invention to provide a display device which willfeed remaining articles to the front of the counter or other support aseach front item is successively removed.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide adisplay device which will prevent the remaining articles from beingejected or toppled when one item is removed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an arrangementwherein the sliding friction involved in moving the remaining itemstoward the front is greatly reduced, thereby permitting the device toaccommodate somewhat larger and heavier merchandise.

further object of the invention is the provision of a display devicewhich is easily and inexpensively fabricated, and which can be securedto existing counter space without any modifications of either the deviceitself or the existing counter space.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a means forkeeping the articles carried by the device in proper alignment, and freefrom interference with adjacent merchandise.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a displaydevice having all of the above mentioned advantages, and which will alsoaccommodate additional layers of merchandise. Ancillary to this lastmentioned object, it is another object of this invention to provide sucha device which will securely hold the additional mount amulti-convoluted self-recoiling roll.

layers of merchandise so that they will not topple on the intermittentforward motion and sudden stoppage of the assembly.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent tothe skilled worker in the art as this specification proceeds. Referencewill be made to the accompanying drawings showing an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the display device of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing a modification of the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the modification of FIGURE 2 fromthe back:

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing still another modification of theinvention;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the embodiment shown inFIGURE 1 FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view along the line 66 of FlGURE5;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view showing a modification of thegeneral arrangement;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a modification of a portion of thedisplay device;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of another modification of a portion ofthe device of this invention; and

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of still another modification of aportion of this invention.

In its broadest aspect, the display device of this invention utilizes amulti-convoluted self-recoiling roll which is freely mounted forrotational movement at the front edge of a shelf or counter. The outertransverse edge of the roll is secured to a back supporting member in amanner described in detail hereinafter. The back supporting member andthe attached self-recoiling roll may be pulled or drawn toward the rearof the shelf or counter, thereby uncoiling a portion of the freelymounted roll. A plurality of articles may then be placed on the uncoiledportion of the roll, between the back supporting member and the portionof the roll remaining in its coiled form. When each front article isremoved, the self-recoiling properties of the roll will draw the backsupporting member, and and all of the remaining articles supportedthereby toward the front edge of the shelf.

Turning now to the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1, it will be seen that itcomprises a base member having a bottom It and the opposed longitudinalside walls 11 and 12. The base member may be formed from any availablematerials, such as plastic or the like, and if desired may bedecoratively colored or otherwise finished to enhance the overallappearance of the device. Although in the embodiment shown, the basemember is open ended, suitable end plates could of course be supplied.The end plate could be used to carry advertising material, display theprice of the merchandise, or the like.

Removably journaled between the oposing side walls 11 and 12 is the axleor retaining pin 13. As will hereinafter become apparent, the axle 13serves to loosely This purpose can be equally well served by either asingle axle or pin extending all the way between the opposing sides 11and 12, by a pair of fixed stub axles or pins, journaled respectively inthe sides 11 and 12, or in some cases by the complete elrnination of theaxle in favor of a barrier surface against which the coiled portion ofthe selfrecoiled portion of the self-recoiling roll bears.

Mounted for free rotational movement about the axle 13 is amulti-convoluted self-recoiling roll 14. A method for making theself-recoiling roll 14 is described in a copending application, SerialNo. 164,372, entitled Method of Making a Self-Coiling Sheet. Extensiveexperimentation has shown that a polyester film such as .0075 inch Mylarmanufactured by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.,

processed as taught in the above noted application, may

be extended and recoiled almost indefinitely without fatigue. Asexplained in that application, such material will always tend to returnto its coiled state.

For purposes of this invention, the roll 14 must be of a width whichwill fit between the side walls ill and 12, and must have a lengthslightly greater than the length of the bottom 16)..

It should be noted that the convoluted roll 14 has inner and outersurfaces 14a and 1415 respectively. The back supporting member 15 issecured to the inner sur face 14a of the roll 14 adjacent its outertransverse edge as clearly shown in the drawings. The back supportingmember E is provided with a rearwardly extending foot 16. In theembodiment shown in FIGURES 1 through 4, the rearwardly extending footis simply a flange at the bottom of the back supporting member. in theembodiment shown in FTGURE 5, the rearwardly extending foot is a wedgeblock 17, secured to the back supporting member as at 18 and tothe outertransverse edge of the roll 14 as at 19.

The arrow designated 2'8 in FTGURE 5 indicates the direction of primarytension when the roll or coil 14- is extended. That is, theself-recalling properties of the roll tends to pull the back supportingmember directly toward the coiled portion of the roll, and a pluralityof articles 21 may be securely engaged therebetween. The

cooperation of the self-coiling tendencies of the roll 1d and therearwardly extending foot in: or 17 produces a very important secondarydirection of tension, as indicated' by the arrow 22. In other words, thetendency of the roll 14 to coil up may also be considered as a tendencyfor the outer edge of the roll to curl. his

curling tendency, acting through the rearwardly extend ing foot in or17, tends to press the back supporting member 15 against a large portionof the surface of an article 21 carried by the device. This pressing ofa back supporting member against a large portion of the surface of anarticle carried by the device will significantly increase the overallfriction between any two packages, and will greatly reduce the tendencyof the remaining articles to topple when the front-most article isremoved. As shown in FIGURES l and 5, when the front-most package ispulled forward and upward, the only friction between it and the secondpackage is where the bottom rear edge of the package slides up the faceof the package behind it; and by virtue of the construction justdescribed, there is very little tendency for this action to pry up thesecond package causing it to pop free.

FIGURES 1 and 5 also illustrate an arrangement wherein the device ofthis invention may be utilized to display a second layer of similaritems. In this embodiment, a second multi-convoluted self-recoiling roll23 is utilized. The outer transverse edge of this roll 23 is fastened bystaples or the like to the back support member 15 at a point spacedupwardly from the base af the back support member by a distance at leastequal to the height of a article carried by the device. The roll 23 maythen be unrolled, and a plurality of articles 24 engaged between thecoiled portion and the back support member. Vertical support forthesecond row of articles 24 is provided by the articles 21 in the lowerrow. The tension of the roll 23 is sufficient to hold the articles 24 inplace when removal of an article Zia causes an intermittent for- .wardand stop motion of the back support member. It

will of course be apparent that if the articles being carried by thedevice are relatively small, additional similar layers may be addedinplace after each front article has been removed. There is no movement ofany of the remaining articles. 'By the same token, as each front articleis removed, the remaining articles become spaced farther back from thefront of the counter. On the other hand, the self-recoiling roll 14rotates about a fixed axle 13. Therefore, when each front article isremoved, the back supporting memher 15 and the remaining articles 21 arepulled toward the roll 14 and the front of the counter. Herein lies avery important facet of this invention. When extended, a cross sectionof the roll 14 would appear as shown in FIGURE 6. That is, thetransverse cross section will have a somewhat bow shape, touching thebottom 1% at substantially only the points 25 and 26. Since the articles21 themselves all test on the extended roll 14, the only frictioninvolved in the above noted sliding action will be the friction betweenthe points 25 and 2d and the bottom in. It will of course be apparentthat this is substantially less than the friction between the bottom ofa series of packages and the bottom of a base member itself, such as iscommon in conventional devices A second embodiment of the invention hasbeen shown in FTGURES 2 and 3. In this embodiment, the roll 14 is.mounted for free rotation in a mounting bracket including a baseportion 27, and a pair of upstanding arms 23 and 2%, each of these armsterminating in an inwardly extending stub axle 3%. As best seen inFIGURE 3, the rearwardly extending foot 16 of the back supporting member15 is provided with a pair of vertical axles 31, each of which looselymounts a relatively narrow multiconvoluted self-recoiling roll 32. Theouter transverse edges of the rolls 32 are secured to the upstandingarms 28 and 2.9 of the mounting bracket. As the back supporting member15 is withdrawn away from the mounting bracket, the rolls 3?;aresimilarly extended, forming flexible side walls serving to maintainarticles carried by the device in proper alignment, and to keep themfrom interfering with adjacent merchandise.

The simplest form of the display device of this invention would involvethe mounting bracket of FIGURES 2 and 3, a multi-convolutedself-recoiling roll 14, and a back support member 15 with a flange id,but without tne narrow rolls 32 and their respective mountings.

Still another modification of the invention is shown in FIGURE 4. Inthis embodiment, the roll 14 is mounted on the stub axle 33 formed onthe end of the parallel rods 34-. The rods 34 are secured to the channelshaped brackets 35 and 36, by means of which the entire device may bemounted to a counter or the like.

FIGURE 7 shows still another modification of the display device of thisinvention. This modification (which may be conveniently employed withvirtually all of the modifications discussed above) involves themounting of the multi-convoluted self-recoiling roll at the top of an aninclined plane. As will be seen from examining FIG- URE 7, the articles3'7 throughfii'd are substantially resting on the planar surface 33. Byvirtue however, of the inclined plane 39, the articles 46 and 41, asthey are moved toward the roll 14, are raised. By virtue of thisarrangement, each article as it arrives at the front-most position, willproject slightly above the remaining articles, and may be more easilyremoved by a customer.

As pointed out earlier in this specification, the axle mounting the roll14 may in some cases be replaced by a barrier surface against which thecoiled portion of the rollld bears. Three exemplary embodiments of sucha barrier surface as shown in FIGURES 8, 9 and 10. In the modificationof FIG. 8, the barrier surface comprises a curved portion 42 having arearwardly extending flange 43 by means of which the barrier can bemounted on a shelf or the like. At the base of the curved portion 42,just above the top surface of the flange 43 is a slot 44, through whichis passed the outer transverse edge of the roll 14. It will now beapparent that as the back support 15 1s drawn rearwardly, the roll iswithdrawn through the slot 44, whilethe coiled portion of theroll bearsagainst the surface 42.

The modification of FIG. Q includes a base member (similar to that shownin FIGURE 1) having a bottom 45, and opposed side falls 46 and 47. Theside walls 46 and 47 respectively terminate in the inturned flanges 48and 49. The bottom edges of these flanges 48 and 49 are spaced from thebottom 4-5, forming a slot through which the roll 14 may pass, while thecoiled portion of the roll 14 bears against the flanges.

FIG. 1G shows the roll 14 housed in a rigid tubeihe member having alongitudinal opening 51 through which the roll id may be extended, and aflat portion 52, by means of which the member may be secured to acounter. The tube-like member 56 is slitted near each end, and thesegments 53 and 54 formed thereby are depressed toward the center of themember to hold the roll 14- in position.

It will of course, be understood that any of the hereinabove describedmodifications of the display device of this invention may be easily usedwith conventional, existing counters or shelves. For example, the basemembers 16, 11, 12 of FIGURES 1 and 5 may be secured to a counter bymeans of screws, adhesive, or any other suitable manner. In the case ofthe embodiment of FIGURES 2 and 3, only the base portion 27 of themounting bracket need be secured to the counter. And finally, in thecase of the modification of FEGURE 4, the brackets 35 and 36 may besecured to the counter. For most commercial usages, it has been foundthat a layer of double coated pressure sensitive tape is extremelyconvenient and effective for securing the display device of thisinvention to a shelf or counter.

Numerous modifications in this invention will of course suggestthemselves to the skilled worker in the art. Accordingly, while theinvention has been described in terms of several specific embodiments,no limitation is intended except insofar as set forth in the followingclaims.

What is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. A display device comprising a multi-convoluted self-recoiling rollhaving an inner and outer surface, mounting means for said rollpermitting free rotation thereof, and a back support member secured tothe inner surface of said roll adjacent the outer transverse edge ofsaid roll, said back support member having a rearwardly extending footat its lower extremity, whereby the selfrecoiling properties of saidroll cause said back support member to press against a large portion ofthe surface of an article carried by said device.

2. The display device claimed in claim 1 including a base member havinga bottom and opposed longitudinal side walls, and wherein said mountingmeans for said roll comprises an axle journaled between said side walls.

3. The display device claimed in claim 1 including a secondmullti-convoluted self-recoiling roll, the outer transverse edge of saidsecond roll being secured to said back support member at a point spacedupwardly from the base thereof by a distance at least equal to theheight of an article carried by said device.

4. The display device claimed in claim 3 wherein said rearwardlyextending foot comprises a flange at the bottom of said back supportmember.

5. The display device claimed in claim 1 wherein said mounting means forsaid roll comprises a mounting bracket, said bracket including a baseportion having a pair of upstanding arms, each of said arms terminatingin an inwardly extending stub axle.

6. The display device claimed in claim 5 including a pair of additionalmulti-convoluted self-recoiling rolls, means on said back support memberfor freely mounting each roll of said pair, the outer transverse edgesof said rolls being secured respectively to the upstanding arms of saidmounting bracket, whereby as said back support member is moved away fromsaid mounting bracket, said pair of rolls serve to align articlescarried by said device.

7. The display device claimed in claim 1 wherein said mounting means forsaid multi-convoluted self-recoiling roll comprises a pair of spacedapart generally parallel rods, corresponding ends of said rodsterminating in inwardly extending stub axles, and means for spacing saidrods from the surface on which said device may be used.

8. A display device adapted to be mounted on a shelf and the likecomprising a multi-convoluted self-recoiling roll, axle means mountingsaid roll for free rotation thereabout, and an inclined plane, said axlemeans being mounted on the upper end of said inclined plane, and a backsupport member secured to the outer transverse edge of said roll, saidback supporting member having a rearwardly extending foot at its lowerextremity, whereby the self-recoiling properties of said roll cause saidback support member to press against a large portion of the surface ofan article carried by said device.

9. The display device claimed in claim 1 wherein said mounting means forsaid roll comprises a barrier surface against which said roll bears.

10. The display device claimed in claim 9 wherein said barrier surfacecomprises a bearing surface having a slot adapted to accommodate theouter transverse edge of said roll, and means for securing said bearingsurface to a counter and the like.

11. The display device claimed in claim 9 wherein said barrier surfacecomprises a tube-like member having a longitudinal opening, and meansfor securing said member to a counter and the like, whereby said rollmay be extended through said longitudinal opening, with the coiledportion of said roll maintained within said tubelike member.

12. The display device claimed in claim 11 wherein said tube-like memberincludes means for maintaining said roll therein.

13. The display device claimed in claim 1 including a base member havinga bottom and opposed side walls, and wherein said mounting means forsaid roll comprises an inturned flange on the end of each of said sidewalls, the bottom edge of each said flange being spaced from said bottomto form a slot, whereby said roll may be extended through said slot,while the coiled portion of said roll bears against said flanges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,647,743 8/53Cook 267l 2,852,143 9/58 Taber 2l1-495 FOREIGN PATENTS 89,079 4/ 37Sweden. 5 3 0,454 12/ 4-0 Great Britain.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

1. A DISPLAY DEVICE COMPRISING A MULTI-CONVOLUTED SELF-RECOILING ROLLHAVING AN INNER AND OUTER SURFACE, MOUNTING MEANS FOR SAID ROLLPERMITTING FREE ROTATION THEREOF, AND A BACK SUPPORT MEMBER SECURED TOTHE INNER SURFACE OF SAID ROLL ADJACENT THE OUTER TRANSVERSE EDGE OFSAID ROLL, SAID BACK SUPPORT MEMBER HAVING A REARWARDLY EXTENDING FOOTAT ITS LOWER EXTREMITY, WHEREBY THE SELFRECOILING PROPERTIES OF SAIDROLL CAUSE SAID BACK SUPPORT MEMBER TO PRESS AGAINST A LARGE PORTION OFTHE SURFACE OF AN ARTICLE CARRIED BY SAID DEVICE.